


Zuko's Tale

by Applausejunkie



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-09
Updated: 2020-12-09
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:01:01
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,331
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27979263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Applausejunkie/pseuds/Applausejunkie
Summary: My retelling of The Tale of Zuko from the episode The Tales of Ba Sing Se.
Relationships: Jin/Zuko (Avatar)
Comments: 4
Kudos: 22





	Zuko's Tale

She was there again.

At first he had noticed her when she came in twice in the same week. She sat in the corner booth, all alone, for nearly an hour each time. She would have cup after cup of tea, sipping on it slowly and methodically. The next week she was there three times, sitting in the same spot and looking around the shop over the rim of her teacup with obvious interest.

Zuko tried to keep his eyes down whenever he served her, doing his best to avoid her curious gaze, but he could feel her light brown eyes on him any time he came near her table. By the fourth time she came in, his paranoia had already started to take hold. Azula had eyes all over the world; who knew how close on their trail she was? They had already been in Ba Sing Se for some time; maybe she had found them. The fifth time he saw her he was positive the girl was a spy, and on the sixth occasion he knew he had to say something.

After Zuko had cleared her table and left her with the bill (he had seen her smile at him out of the corner of his eye, and even now he could tell she was watching him), he went behind the counter and, as casually as possible, whispered under his breath to his only accepting family,

“Uncle, we have a problem.”

The older man glanced down from where he was stacking jars of loose tea on the high shelf, then started down the ladder. Zuko fought to keep his voice low and his stance as relaxed as possible, so the customers wouldn't detect his apprehension.

“One of the customers is onto us,” he hissed urgently. “Don't look now, but there's a girl over there at the corner table. She knows we’re Fire Nation.”

Predictably, the first thing Iroh did was glance over his shoulder in the direction of the corner booth. Zuko grabbed his arm impatiently. “Didn't I say 'don't look’?”

His uncle nodded affirmingly, but there was a smirk on his face that made Zuko uneasy. What did he think was so funny about getting caught? “You’re right, Zuko,” he said. “I've seen that girl in here quite a lot.” Zuko was ready to suggest they escape out the back door when Iroh kept talking. “Seems to me she has quite a little crush on you!”

Zuko took a step back in surprise. “What?!” he cried aloud. That was ridiculous; no one could ever have a crush on him; no one had in years, since before his banishment. Back then it had made more sense: he was a prince, the heir, and although his sister had never allowed him to maintain any self-esteem, at least he had been able to logically understand why his lineage would be an attractive quality to a girl. That had also been before his face had been disfigured past recognition, and he had been a handsome young man.

But now, now all that was gone. He had no title here, no identity. He was a peasant, a lowly server in a tea shop. There was absolutely no reason for a girl to so much as look twice at him, except to stare at his scar and wonder what happened, just like everyone who saw him. Iroh was out of his mind; there was no way she was interested in him.

“Thank you for the tea.” A voice behind them made him whirl. It was her, smiling up at him, with her round eyes meeting his for the briefest of moments. It seemed to him she was actually looking into his eyes instead of staring at his scar, something else he wasn’t used to. It almost seemed as if she were making a concentrated effort to keep her eyes on the unburnt side of his face.

Taking her offered coins out of instinct, Zuko abruptly turned his back to her to put her money in the register, silently relieved that this meant she would go away, at least for a little while. But then her voice once again came from behind him.

“What's your name?”

His eyes widened and panic flooded his brain. But his royal manners kicked in and, forcing as friendly a face as he could manage, he turned again to face her. “My name’s Lee,” he replied politely. “My uncle and I just moved here.” It was a misleadingly vague statement, but not untrue, he justified to himself.

She was smiling again, looking up at him through her dark eyelashes. “Hi Lee, my name’s Jin. Thank you—and,” she added, looking away momentarily, “Well, I was wondering if you would like to go out sometime.”

He froze. His breathing caught in his throat, his heart thudded in his ears, and time seemed to stop. His mind raced, trying to come up with an excuse to say no that didn't sound rude. His thoughts came to a screeching halt, however, when in the next instant he heard his uncle's voice:

“He’d love to!”

What?! Zuko fought to keep his expression neutral through the indignation rising in his stomach. Why did his uncle always have to do that, forcing him into situations like this, leaving him with no viable escape but to grit his teeth and fight his way through it?

“Great!” Jin chirped, blissfully unaware of Zuko’s discomfort. “I'll meet you in front of the shop at sundown.” Then, with another wide smile, she turned and walked out of the shop. Zuko waited until she was gone to fix his uncle with a deadly glare.

That night, Zuko slunk out of the tea house, glancing around awkwardly, his roughly-cut hair slicked down in an attempt to look more presentable. She wasn’t there yet. Maybe that meant she had changed her mind. Maybe that meant the whole thing has been a trick to get him alone, and she really was an agent of the Fire Nation. His eyes narrowed, suddenly apprehensive.

He was staring down the street watching for signs of an ambush when a familiar voice came from over his shoulder. “Hey.”

Zuko whirled. How did she manage to always come up behind him? She was looking him up and down.

“Well, look at you,” she said, her eyes lingering on his head. “You look so cute.” Approaching him, she reached up and ran a hand through his hair, turning it back into the mess it usually was as it grew back out after he had cut off his ponytail, severing his connection to the Fire Nation royal family forever.

“It took my uncle ten minutes to do my hair!” he protested, brushing her hands away and trying to fix it back to the way his uncle had had it, to no avail. Luckily, Jin seemed to like it better that way, so he gave up and just let it stick up all over the place.

His companion for the night took his arm with such familiarity that Zuko was slightly taken aback. It had been so long since he had been touched so casually, since before his banishment. On his ship he had been surrounded by sailors and soldiers, all of whom knew better than to come within arm’s reach of him. The only person who ever made physical contact with him since his mother had left was Iroh, and that he usually shrugged off and walked away from. This felt different, new. To his surprise he didn't feel the immediate need to pull away or disengage, nor did he feel annoyed like he sometimes did when his uncle treated him too casually. Instead he just accepted the arm around his and allowed her to lead him through the streets.

Jin took them to a restaurant with an open patio facing the town square, where they could watch the busy citizens of the walled city going about their lives, oblivious to the ongoing war and their impending destruction, kept ignorant by their own government. Zuko almost pitied them; they stood no chance against the Fire Nation army that was steadily advancing on them.

As he pushed his food around on his plate, he could feel Jin watching him. Conditioned by years of people staring, he assumed she was looking at the disfigured side of his face, but every time he glanced cautiously over at her, she was looking at his eyes.

After a while, she filled the silence. “So, how do you like the city so far?” she asked.

Zuko didn't look at her. “It's okay,” he replied noncommittally. It wasn’t true; living in this city was far from okay. From the tiny apartment he shared with his uncle, to doing work his servants should be doing for him just to make enough money to stay alive, to the constant need to suppress his firebending abilities. He couldn't bend at all here for fear of being found out, and he feared that without practice he would lose the skills he had worked so hard and long to perfect. No, the city was not okay. It was a living hell. But he couldn't explain that to her, so instead he said nothing.

“What do you like to do for fun?”

“Nothing.”

For a moment she seemed discouraged by his one-word responses, but any awkward silence that might have ensued was spared by the waiter approaching the table. “Excuse me sir, would you and your girlfriend care for dessert?”

Zuko’s discomfort turned to rage. How _dare_ this man assume such a thing? “She is not my girlfriend!” he snapped, a little too loudly. Several heads from neighboring tables turned to look at him, wanting to know who had shouted and why. Embarrassed and angry at himself for losing his temper, he glared down at his plate until the waiter walked away.

By the time he dared to look back up at Jin, she was focused on slurping up a large mouthful of noodles as if nothing had happened. Eager to move past the uncomfortable incident, he forced himself to speak without first planning what to say. Instead he blurted out the first thing that came to mind.

“You have…quite an appetite for a girl.” As soon as he said it, he knew it was wrong. But he couldn't take it back now, so instead of saying anything more and potentially making things even worse, he just stayed silent, letting his gaze fall to his hands, which were clasped on the table.

Jin blinked. “Um, thanks?”

He couldn't look at her.

As if she too were eager to steer the conversation elsewhere, she began again. “So, Lee, where were you and your uncle living before you came here?”

Caught off-guard by the question, he glanced up at her. What did he tell her? Not the truth, obviously. “Um, well,” he started haltingly. “We've been traveling around a long time.” That much was true; they’d been wandering the whole world looking for the Avatar for three years.

“Oh! Why were you traveling so much?” she asked, her brown eyes sparkling with interest.

Zuko's mind raced. So far he had not yet outright lied to this girl. He hadn’t told her the whole story, but nothing he had told her yet was untrue. But he was backed into a corner now. He had to make something up, and fast. His mind clamped onto the first idea that popped into his mind. “We were, uh, part of this…traveling circus…”

Jin’s eyes widened. “Really?” she asked, and Zuko was internally amazed that she believed him when the words sounded so false in his own ears. But she wasn't finished speaking. “What did you do?”

Before Zuko could panic again she stopped him. “Wait, let me guess… You juggled.”

Deciding that going along with it would be easiest, he stared across the table at her, his arms crossed as if to shield his lies from her. “Yes, I juggled,” he affirmed, looking at her blankly, equal parts relieved that she didn't suspect him and guilty for tricking someone so naïve and trusting.

She was grinning at him in delight. “I've always wanted to learn how to juggle! Can you show me something?” And before Zuko could object, Jin gathered up several corked bottles and empty cups from the table and placed them in his hands. He stared down at them, mentally noting that they were all made of breakable ceramic.

“Uh…” knowing this wouldn't end well, but seeing the eager smile on Jin’s face, he took a breath anyway and tossed the dishes into the air one by one, flinching as they all came crashing down on him, shattering each vessel and covering him in their contents. Looking over at Jin, he discovered her covering her mouth as if to keep in a laugh. “I haven't practiced for a while,” he muttered by way of explanation, grabbing his napkin and cleaning himself off.

“It's all right,” she replied with a hint of a giggle in her voice, and Zuko was silently grateful that she didn't seem to judge him for his pathetic performance, as his sister and father would have, nor did she try to give unsolicited advice or pieces of wisdom, like Uncle Iroh always did. That drove him crazy, and it only made him angrier every time he learned the hard way that his uncle had been right all along. Jin had simply forgiven him and dismissed it. That was a new concept for Zuko, and it made him uncomfortable.

“Hey,” Jin said, pulling the former prince out of his thoughts, “I want to show you one of my favorite places in the city.” Standing up from the table, she took Zuko by the hand, giving him just enough time to drop some coins on the table before she led him out of the restaurant and back into the streets, which were almost empty at this late hour.

As they walked, Zuko tried to process the feeling of her fingers interlaced with his, gently pulling him along. When they had touched earlier, she had held him by his arm, which was covered by his long-sleeved shirt. But now their bare hands were pressed together, skin on skin. It felt strangely intimate, and brought back distant memories. Memories of another hand he had held, so long ago he couldn't recall what it had felt like, until now. And now he found his heart pounding in a way it hadn’t for many years.

Jin's voice brought him back to the present. “I'm so excited for you to see the Firelight Fountain,” she said, tugging on his hand a little, causing him to pick up his pace to keep up with her. “The lamps make the water sparkle, and reflect in the pool in the most beautiful way!” She kept quickening her steps until both of them were running through the city’s deserted streets.

The street opened into an wide circle, with a fountain in the center and surrounded by dozens of lanterns. When they arrived, however, Jin stopped short. The circle was dark, none of the lanterns burning. “I can't believe it!” she cried. “They aren't lit.”

Zuko looked at her and saw her hang her head, absolute disappointment on her face. For some reason, he discovered that her frown bothered him, to a significant degree.

It took only a moment’s thought. He knew he shouldn’t, it was too risky, but the look on Jin's face was too much. The friendly, trusting smile that he had grown accustomed to had vanished, and he felt a burning need to see it again.

“Close your eyes,” he ordered suddenly. “And don't peek.”

After raising an eyebrow at him quizzically, she obeyed, covering her eyes with her hands.

Zuko stepped forward into the circle of lanterns. Glancing around to make sure they were well and truly alone, he brought his hands together in front of his chest and closed his eyes. As he centered his breath, his golden eyes opened, and he took his stance. Channeling his energy through his body and down his arms, he shot tiny sparks from his fingertips, each one connecting with a darkened lantern and starting it burning. Soon the entire circle glowed in the flickering light.

Once every lantern was lit, Zuko relaxed his stance and took a breath, turning back to face her. “Okay, now you can look.”

Jin uncovered her face and gasped at what she saw. “Oh, wow!” she exclaimed, her wide eyes reflecting the golden gleam of the lanterns. She moved forward into the circle so she could stand next to him, staring around her in amazement. “What happened?” she asked. “Why did they light? What did you…” she trailed off when she saw him watching her, a tiny smile on his face, the first genuine smile he had ever given her. Her eyes softened as she gazed at him, then they both turned their attention back to the shimmering surface of the fountain.

Zuko was so occupied watching the lanterns shine that he didn't feel her move until her hand touched his, and she gently pulled him toward her. At first he glanced down at their hands, then back up at her in time to see her gaze linger on his mouth. Then she started to move forward, and, in typical fashion, Zuko panicked and did the first thing that came to mind to change the situation.

Swiftly reaching into his pocket, he produced a small card, holding it up between their faces. “I brought you something,” he said abruptly. Jin’s eyes finally left his mouth and met his awkward gaze. “I-it’s a coupon for a free cup of tea.” His voice in his own ears felt as strained as the muscles in his shoulders, which were getting very tense from how close to him she was.

As before, his stiff manner seemed not to bother her, and she smiled softly, her gentle fingers brushing his as she took the card from him. “Lee, this is so sweet.”

Zuko took a step back, scratching the back of his head just to do something with his hands. “Don’t thank me,” he said, “It was my uncle's idea.” He looked away from her. “He thinks you’re our most valuable customer.”

Even without looking at her he could feel her smile widen. “Your uncle is a good teacher,” she replied, tucking the card away and taking two steps towards him. Suddenly, and with such gentleness that at first he thought he had imagined it, her fingers brushed the skin of his unburnt cheek, bidding him turn his head. Instinctively he complied, facing her and staring down into her eyes.

“I have something for you, too,” she murmured. “Now it's your turn to close your eyes.”

His paranoia resisted. What did she want him to close his eyes for? Was she an agent of Azula after all, and the whole night had been an act? Zuko’s memory played the night back in his head, the way she had believed everything he had told her, the way it had felt when she touched him, the look in her eyes now as they twinkled in the light of the tiny flames surrounding them. The tension in his body eased slightly. No, she was no agent. If she could trust him enough to take his absurd story at face value, he could at least trust her enough to close his eyes for a moment. Exhaling, he let his eyes slide shut.

He heard her take in a breath, then suddenly her lips touched his in the briefest of kisses. Zuko’s heart and mind raced, reeling from the contact and silently wondering how to react. Ever true to his nature, he instantly latched onto the first thing that came to mind. He slid his arms around her waist, pulled her firmly against him and kissed her back.


End file.
